


This Time We Save Each Other

by thedailybugle



Category: Spider-Gwen (Comics), Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: father figure? more like peter bOTHER figure, shes 16 let her be emotional, they only mentioned gwen trauma once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 11:57:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18659968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedailybugle/pseuds/thedailybugle
Summary: There’s so much that could be said, but neither Peter or Gwen are the right person. Neither of them are the same person.Wrong place, wrong time, wrong universe





	This Time We Save Each Other

Miles left the (pretentious) Spider warehouse in May’s backyard, and all the other spider people are talking, trying to find out who is going to stay behind to save the multi-verse.

 

“It should be me. To sacrifice myself for this colorful world would be the strongest feeling of honor,” Spider-Noir spoke up.

 

“Relax, Cassablanca. I’ll stay behind. Cartoons always come back at some point, right? We’ve all seen Bugs Bunny jump back in the game.” Says Spider-Ham.

  
Peni chimed in, “I can stay behind. Maybe I can update the metal and software on SP//DR and make it stable.”

 

“You’re all not staying,” Peter B. said, silencing the group. “I am. No discussions. I’ve been doing this the longest, and honestly I’m surprised I made it this long. All of you are going home. I’m staying.”

 

“No.” Gwen spoke up, turning away from the spot Miles just ascended from.

 

“I’m not fighting anyone on this, it’s going to be me.“

 

“No,” Gwen said again, this time with more conviction. “You aren’t staying behind. You aren’t dying.”

 

She starts to shake, and she is looking all around the room quickly, eyes focusing mainly on the floor. The words stutter out of her mouth like every heart beat sends them tumbling out.

 

Peter tries again, “Gwen, you know I’m the only one who should do this.”

 

“No, you aren’t. There’s so many other people here. All of us with awful guilt complexes and that stupid ‘great power’ mantra stuck in our heads. We are all capable of doing this. You can’t do this.”

 

“Gwen—“

 

“No!” Her eyes snap up from the floor, looking Peter B. directly in the eyes. “I can’t lose you, Peter. You can’t die because of me again.”

 

With that statement, Gwen shoots a web towards the ceiling, following the platform that carried Miles out. Tears are running down her face as she rushes out of the shed. She begins to swing away—away from the shed, away from the end of the world, away from Peter.

 

Not her Peter. She knows this, logically. Peter B. Is not her Peter, but he’s what hers will never have the chance to be. Yes, he’s a human disaster. He’s nearly homeless; he’s divorced; and nearly suicidal. But, that 30-something old Spider-man has the life to make those kind of mistakes. He has the air in his lungs that allows him to cry out in heartbreak at MJ leaving him. He has blood coursing hard through his veins every cold night he spends without heat because he can’t pay his bills. He has the brain to tell him stupid, intrusive thoughts that he shuts out with mindless TV about sea horses.

 

He has the heart to look at all these people he’s never met and say, “I’m going to sacrifice myself to save all of you.”

 

To hear him say in a gruffier version of her best friend’s voice that he was going to die, it was like all the air got sucked out of the room and collapsed right on her shoulders. She couldn’t just let history repeat itself.

 

Gwen finds herself on a build board for the Daily Bugle. Jameson’s face lights up behind her. The tag line reads: “FOR THE QUICKEST, MOST TRUTHFUL PAPER IN NEW YORK.”

 

_The words quick and truth usually don’t work too well together_ , Gwen thinks to herself.

 

A little _thwip_! Shakes Gwen’s from her thoughts. Looking over, she sees Peter B. Making his way across the build board stand towards her. He walks with a sort of wobble—his chest is out, confident and direct, but his legs take their time, one foot in front of the other, almost unsure of every step. It’s like the years of a dual identity has taken its toll that even half his body is trying to trick itself into looking the hero part.

 

Peter sits right next to her, and neither of them say anything right away. Gwen already said her part and doesn’t know how much more she’s willing to share. She doesn’t have many friends at home (or any at all), so emotions don’t really come out of her. It kills her rocker chick vibe anyways.

 

So, Gwen decides to enjoy the silence, waiting for the inevitable moment when Peter tries to break the ice.

 

And, that he does. “Quick and truth—now those are two words you usually don’t see together.”’

 

Gwen cracks a smile at that. “You think he’s going to be as big a dick to Miles as he is to us in our universes?”

 

“I hope so. It’s good to have a down to earth enemy. No wings. No electricity. Just good, old fashioned libel.”

 

They both chuckle for a second, thinking of their own squabbles with JJJ, but then they return back to silence. Both of them not knowing where to start or having the emotional intelligence to be able to process. There’s so much that could be said, but neither of them are the right person. Neither of them are the same person.

 

Wrong place, wrong time, wrong universe.

 

“I had a Gwen, too.” Peter speaks up.

 

Gwen snaps her head towards Peter. It’s his turn to avoid eye contact as he stares at his mismatched shoes, one held together by webbing alone. Gwen doesn’t look away. She doesn’t miss the use of the word “had.”

 

“I was in love with her. We were together. Happy. Other than Aunt May, I don’t think I ever loved someone more or wanted to protect them. It was always me, Gwen, Harry, and MJ, but Gwen and I…we just clicked you know?”

Gwen did know. The day she met Peter, the loser kid who always got the worst of the bullies, she knew there was something inside of him. Something she wanted to know, to care for. It wasn’t romantic, but it wasn’t any less strong.

 

“What happened to her?” Gwen asks hesitantly. He knows the story of her Peter, so it only seems fair. But, is anyone really ready to hear about how they died in another life?

 

“I was fighting the Green Goblin. He kidnapped her, and we were fighting on this bridge. Next thing I know he throws her off. I shot web after web to catch her and pull her up to save her. And I thought I did for a second. For one second everything was okay because I caught her, and she was safe with me. But, that second was over, and I realized she was…dead. Her neck just snapped. From what I never was completely sure.”

 

“Peter, you did everything you could. It wasn—“

 

“I know, it wasn’t my fault. It could have been whiplash from the throw. It could have been anything. But, I didn’t protect her. Just like I didn’t with Unlce Ben. That is my fault. And that’s with me every single day.”

 

The air is heavy between them. Both sitting in the grief of lost loved ones and regrets. Neither look at the other, afraid of what they’ll see looking back them. Not Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen, but his beautiful college girlfriend and her nerdy high school best friend. One question always echoes in their minds.

 

When your greatest power causes your greatest loss, who takes responsibility?

 

“When I look at you,” Gwen says, finally looking up, “I see a Peter I could have had in my life. Some 25 years from now. Kinda awkward, lack of social cues, but alive. And very much Peter.”

 

“I don’t see my Gwen when I look at you,” Peter says, meeting Gwen’s eyes and taking a deep breath. “I see what could have been our daughter.”

 

“Is it bad I’m happy in a way there’s a universe out there where I die instead of you?” Gwen asks.

 

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel the same exact way.”

 

As they sit on the old Daily Bugle billboard, they let the silence fill all the spaces left untouched by voicing it to the outside world. There’s an understanding between them as they look at each other. A creed of protection written in the space between their eyes. A promise that what happened won’t happen again.

 

“We can’t change what happened, but maybe this is a chance to heal. This time—“

 

“This time we save each other.” Gwen finishes Peter’s sentence for him.

 

The night air blows across them, and they both decide it’s time to head back to the spider-cave. Peter’s about to swing off when Gwen stops him.

 

“If I was your daughter in whatever universe, I would have been damn lucky to have you as a dad.”

 

He smiles at her. Not a half-hearted one that’s trying to act like a mask without having one on. It’s genuine. A quick, honest one. And just as quickly as it came, it is replaced with a goofy grin.

 

“Is this the part where I tell you that you need to take more vitamins?”

 

Laughing, Gwen swings off the billboard, Peter following behind her. Peter making dad jokes all the way back to Aunt May’s house, and Gwen trying to act like they’re not even a little funny. 

 

New place, new time, new universe. It’s not a second chance, but a new beginning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
